WASHINGTON, May 23 - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will join the federal enhanced entry screening program for Americans returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan. The airport becomes a second designated U.S. entry point for such travelers.
According to the CDC, Hartsfield-Jackson has previously participated in passenger screening operations and has established the necessary operational procedures to support the enhanced Ebola checks. The agency said the Atlanta hub will now perform the heightened public health screening that the CDC is applying to travelers arriving from the three countries.
Earlier in the week, Washington’s Dulles International Airport was named as a screening site for returning U.S. citizens. The CDC described enhanced public health entry screening as one element of a broader Ebola response strategy that includes several components: screening prior to departure overseas, reporting by airlines of ill passengers and public health monitoring after arrival.
The World Health Organization has reported the following counts tied to the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain: 82 confirmed cases so far, seven confirmed deaths, 177 suspected deaths and nearly 750 suspected cases. Those figures relate to cases linked to the Bundibugyo strain in the affected region, the CDC noted.
In related travel policy, the administration has enacted a ban this week preventing non-citizens who have recently traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan from entering the United States. The CDC and federal agencies are using the screening expansion and the other public health measures to help manage the risk associated with travelers from the affected countries.
The addition of Hartsfield-Jackson, an airport that already has prior experience with passenger screening protocols, is intended to increase the capacity of U.S. public health authorities to identify and monitor arrivals from areas affected by the Bundibugyo Ebola strain. The CDC emphasized that entry screening is only one component of the layered public health approach now in use.